The popularization of the Internet as a content delivery system in recent years has enabled any properly configured computer to extract various types of information from one or more servers, and to provide the extracted information to users all over the world easily and quickly. As the popularity of the Internet has grown, so has the type of information available via the Internet. For example, it is now possible to download, retrieve, and use streaming audio and video files as well as standard text, graphics and data files. Multimedia files are readily available for retrieval and use by Internet users. With the increasing popularity of complex content and multimedia files, users are now routinely accessing a large quantity of information in a wide variety of formats.
Some of the most popular Internet content applications of the present time include the following non-exhaustive categories: instant messaging; audio and video chat; recorded and live video feeds (i.e., television, movies, music videos, video podcasts, etc.), recorded and live audio feeds (i.e., audio podcasts, music, etc.) and other graphic files (still photos, graphics, etc.).
As explained above, there are numerous opportunities for users to access a wide variety of content, including multimedia content, via the Internet. Unfortunately, each of these different categories of content may be offered by a number of disparate companies, each with their own unique and sometimes proprietary approach to delivering the content over the Internet to the user. It is not uncommon for each new application to present the user with a completely different interface for interacting with the application. This means that the typical user must generally learn and become proficient with multiple mutually exclusive user interfaces. This learning curve can be intimidating to certain users who, rather than make the investment in mastering yet another user interface will simply “opt out” and choose to forgo accessing certain categories of content from certain sources. While this solution is practical for the user, it can limit the user's access to otherwise desirable media.
In addition to the numerous interfaces that must be learned, the sheer volume and diversity of content available and the physical logistics of managing the presentation of the content to a user can also be quite daunting. For example, if a user is watching a streaming video file on their computer monitor and simultaneously chatting with another user via an instant messaging application, the coordination of the content can be problematic or even incompatible. The issues related to “focus” for the competing content delivery applications can be overwhelming for the typical Internet browser. For example, the streaming video window may displace the chat window, or vice versa, temporarily or permanently terminating one of the content delivery applications. This may cause the user to switch back and forth between the applications, restart one or more applications and miss some portion of the chat and/or the streaming video.
This problem is only intensified for more sophisticated users who routinely access three, four, or even more sources of content simultaneously since each form of content is typically managed by a separate application in a separate window displayed on the user's computer monitor. The actual uploading and downloading of the content can also be technically challenging for many users since the wide variety of media types and lack of standardized interfaces are not always intuitive.
Another area of concern is the temporal and spatial management of the various types of content commonly accessed by users today. This relates to compatibility issues that may arise when using multiple applications to access and manipulate different forms of content at the same time. Not only is the screen real estate for the typical computer user limited in a physical sense, the practice of simultaneously accessing multiple applications can introduce a mental or psychological limitation as well. Although many users are fairly sophisticated and can “multi-task” with different content applications, there are practical limits that are exacerbated by the lack of standardized user interfaces. This is exhibited when a user constantly has to resize and reposition multiple windows in order to access multiple content applications.
As shown by the discussion above, although the present applications and application interfaces for accessing content via the Internet are not without merit, the diverse nature and nonstandard approach provided by multiple disparate vendors is sometimes challenging and, accordingly, certain users may have a difficult time accessing, managing, and utilizing the desired content as desired. Therefore, without improvements in the nature of the application and user interface for simultaneously working with multiple, disparate applications to access, manage, and utilize diverse forms of content, the user experience will continue to be sub-optimal.